Fox adds Andrews, Pink to Thursday Night Football crew

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Fox is going all out as it prepares to take over broadcasts of Thursday night NFL games this season, announcing Friday it will add both sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Kristina Pink to a broadcast team that already features its No. 1 announcer team in the booth.

Andrews has been with Fox since leaving ESPN in 2012 and has worked as the sideline reporter for the network’s main announcing team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.

Pink has worked sideline duty for Fox on Sundays since 2012.

“Expanding my responsibilities to Thursday night with fellow Gator Kristina Pink will hopefully give audiences another reason to tune in and root for their favorite teams and players,” Andrews said.

Both will continue their Sunday duties as part of the arrangement.

Buck will be doing the play-by-play with his partner for the last 16 years, Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. They will call all 13 Thursday games as well as Fox’s biggest game most Sundays, the network revealed in May.

This is Fox’s first foray into Thursday night games, having signed a five-year deal with the NFL. Included are games between Weeks 4-15 — with Thanksgiving excluded — to be broadcast on Fox, simulcast via NFL Network and distributed in Spanish on Fox Deportes.

The new contract with Fox was the first time the league didn’t mandate that a network use its top broadcast team, but Fox ended up there anyway when its reported first choice, a team including retired quarterback Peyton Manning, turned down the offer.

The first Thursday game will be the Sept. 6 season opener between the champion Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. NBC will televise that game.

The following two Thursday games — Baltimore at Cincinnati on Sept. 13 and the New York Jets at Cleveland on Sept. 20 — will air exclusively on NFL Network.